Mark Bass Minimark 802 and 801

[yorks5stringer]

The 802 is the second smallest combo they do, only beaten by the 801 which has 1 X 8" speaker and 45 watts.

I'll start with the 801 as I sold mine to purchase the 802. For home practice and acoustic (non drum) Jams the 801 fits the bill, it is less than 12" square, light as a 6kg feather, and the beefiest 45 watts this side of a new £5 note. Controls are just Gain with the EQ handled by the VPF knob. The VPF (Variable Pre-shape Filter) boosts lows and highs, and cuts mids, often called the smiley face control. I used to run my Gain at 3pm and the VPF at 2pm to hit the sweet spot on Jam occasions, at home 9 or 10 pm on Gain was fine. This was with any of my 5 string Basses on Flats without any distortion or speaker 'farting'. Being Mark Bass there is none of that overdriven sound many aspire to however. Has Aux in, headphones and speaker out for home practice purposes too.


However my requirement changed to home practice and a largish Americana band with 3 Guitars and Harmonica so went for the larger 802 with 2 X 8" speakers and 250 watts at 4 ohm and 150 at 8 ohm.

Whereas with the 801 I ran the VPF at 2 pm to remove some of the treble, on the 802 the twin speakers and increased power give a very deep sound and I don't use the VLE at all and only use a tiny amount of the VLE (Vintage Loudspeaker Emulator). This is a shelf EQ that cuts a wider and wider range of high frequencies as you turn it up.

This Combo has plenty of headroom and non of the high frequencies I had to dial out on the 801 with my Basses on Flats. In fact I'm wondering whether I change back to some ground wounds to add a little more bite, as it can sound a bit woolly at high gain settings?

Taller at 19", 10" wide and 15" deep with home practise facilities including: Aux In, Phones Out, XLR line out and speaker on/off

To conclude, I had though the 802 would have all the sonic characteristics of the 801 but with more headroom. It does to some extent but to me the basic sound is more 'Bassy', and the EQ with both VLE and VPF seems different too. Mark Bass say they both have a 'warm and powerful sound': I'd say the 801 has more 'bite' and the 802 more 'Bass'. These observations are based on 5 String Basses all strung with flats: a Super Jazz, a Squier VM P and an Ibanez Artcore Semi.


Link below to the Mark Bass site for specs etc.




[url="http://www.markbass.it/product_detail.php?id=241"]http://www.markbass.it/product_detail.php?id=241[/url]

Edited December 3, 2016 by yorks5stringer

[machinehead]

Very interesting. I love Markbass gear.

Thanks for posting.

Frank.

[Bigwan]

Maybe I'm missing something, but why did you go for the 802 instead of something like the 121p combo? Aux and phones?

Edited December 5, 2016 by Bigwan

[Marc S]

Thanks for posting your thoughts & findings. A pal of mine had an 801, and I was surprised at how loud it was for such a small unit.
I too like Markbass gear. I had a CMD102P combo and that was great. I now use a couple of different heads (not at the same time) with a Markbass 102 traveller cab. It's really lightweight and very powerful, with a nice warm sound.

I also play DB, and I've heard other DB players rate the 802 very highly.

[yorks5stringer]

[quote name='Bigwan' timestamp='1480927077' post='3188019']
Maybe I'm missing something, but why did you go for the 802 instead of something like the 121p combo? Aux and phones?
[/quote]

I have the 121 combo too!..... I needed something just a bit more powerful than the 801 for Jam nights and small venues (as I was struggling to hear myself) than the 801 but not as big as the 121 (which I know is not large by bass combo standards) so GAS got the better of me..... I also have a NYC 121 cab to add to my CMD 121 combo so have 'large' and 'big' covered.

Take your general point , a new CMD 121P is not much more than a 802....

[Bigwan]

GAS is an evil mistress...

[molan]

Really pleased you like the 802

I completely agree about it sounding 'bassier' too.

[yorks5stringer]

Glad its not just me....!

[yorks5stringer]

Just noticed Andertons are doing the 802 for £502 in their Sale. That's a great price, I paid considerably more just a few weeks ago and that was the best price in the EU then...

[yorks5stringer]

Now £479....!!!!!